Wolverhampton Wanderers are giving consideration to asking Dave Jones to return to Molineux for a second spell in charge as their search for a new manager descended into farce after Walter Smith became the third person to turn down the Premier League club since Mick McCarthy was sacked last week.

Jones has been out of work since leaving Cardiff City in the summer but he has spoken before about having "unfinished business" at Molineux, where he was the manager for three years, from 2001-04. It is understood that Wolves have made contact with Jones, who led the club into the Premier League in 2003 only for them to be relegated 12 months later.

The other option is Steve Bruce, the former Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland manager who was interviewed last week and would be keen to take over but has so far been overlooked during a recruitment process that has become an embarrassment. Alan Curbishley has twice turned the job down, Brian McDermott rejected Wolves in favour of staying at Reading and Smith has decided that it was not for him.

"It's true I'm not going [to Wolves]," the former Rangers manager said. "I was totally unsure whether I really wanted to do it or not. It was a purely personal thing, nothing to do with Wolves.

"I know Jez Moxey [the Wolves chief executive] and knew I was more of a fallback than anything. We didn't even get as far as discussing money. There was never a face-to-face meeting and we never discussed finance. If someone asks you, you're pleased to be asked, but the longer you think about it, you start to ask yourself whether it was right."

Wolves have also interviewed Neil Warnock, who subsequently took over at Leeds United, and explored the possibility of trying to lure Gus Poyet from Brighton & Hove Albion, which proved to be a non-starter. With no appointment imminent, Terry Connor, the Wolves assistant manager, will remain in temporary charge for the game at Newcastle United on Saturday, where Wolves will be looking to improve a dreadful run of 14 points from their past 22 matches.

"It's a shambles," said Charles Ross, editor of the Wolves fanzine A Load of Bull, said: "We are becoming a laughing stock. It's got to the stage where you are asking yourself not who would Wolves want but who would want Wolves."